Can’t disagree with that… March 29, 2008

There have been too many explanatory statements from the Taoiseach since this newspaper first published Colm Keena’s story 18 months ago revealing that the Mahon tribunal was investigating payments of between €50,000-€100,000 by businessmen to Mr Ahern while he was minister for finance in the early 1990s. Some have been short; others have been long. Some have been in written affidavits; others verbally on oath. Some have been sound bites; others have been long articles.

Eventually the moment arrives when numerous tortured explanations which avoid dealing directly with the matter at hand won’t do:

The seminal statement was made on the Bryan Dobson interview on RTÉ when the payments were presented as a dig-out from friends at a sad time in his personal life. There have been three or four other versions of that story ever since.

Where sympathy, however residual, finally ebbs away:

The time has come for Mr Ahern to name a date for his departure.

Where respect for past achievements cannot outweigh the slow but steady attrition of a reputation:

He should be allowed the dignity of a valedictory address to the Joint Houses of Congress in the United States. He should lay claim to the historic part he played in the peace process in Northern Ireland. There is a danger that he could become the focal point for voters in the Lisbon Treaty referendum. Mr Ahern should name a date, sooner rather than later.

I just don’t get why he’s done the latter,unless he’s not in a position to moderate. Incidentally, I think the letter itself might be fair enough on the defamation side (everyone has a right to protection), but the demand for usernames is OTT.